RTI activist injected with poison

RTI activist injected with poison

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Markapuram: A Right to Information (RTI) activist focusing on police excesses was attacked by three men here on Sunday and injected with poison. Locals shifted the activist N Srinivasa Rao to the hospital where he is battling for his life.
    Rao, originally a money lender, became an RTI activist a few years back and opened his own office in
this town. Sources said 42-year-old Rao has been at loggerheads with the town police since he started seeking information from police stations under the RTI Act. Around noon on Sunday, three men walked into his office on the pretext of discussing a case and within minutes, two of them held him back while the third produced a syringe filled with some liquid and injected the same in the abdomen of the victim. Having entered the office undetected, the three assailants wore masks while making their exit even as Rao cried for help.
    The victim was first shifted by locals to the government hospital which referred him to the district headquarters hospital in Ongole. ‘Police intimidating activists’
Markapuram: However, when his condition deteriorated further, Rao was shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). Hospital sources said the victim is battling for his life as the poison spread to several organs of his body. Doctors at the hospital were yet to figure out the nature of the poison.
    The incident created ripples in the town as it took place in the heart of the town.
    While police allege that Rao had been in the business of blackmailing to make quick bucks after securing information under the RTI Act, the representatives of Right to Information United Front contended that the police were intimidating RTI activists like Rao as he was exposing several police excesses. Sources said the cops booked cases against Srinivasa Rao under the SC-ST (prevention of atrocities) Act some three years back when Balamuralikrishna was inspector in the town. According to them, Srinivasa Rao had developed serious differences with the inspector over the arrest of some suspects in thefts cases.
    The police slapped cases against Srinivasa Rao under the SC-ST Act only after he had an argument with inspector Balamuralikrishna, the sources added. Interestingly, Balamuralikrishna, who worked at Singarayakonda till recently, was shifted to vacancy reserve after complaints poured in against him.